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Cambodia: Cut off by Khmer Rouge, film scene revives at refugees return

In Cambodia, filmmakers are slowly returning after decades as refugees who fled the Khmer Rouge.

鈥� A local, slice-of-life story from Monitor correspondents.

Just before the communist Khmer Rouge marched into the capital in 1975, Tea Lim Koun, the director of the classic Cambodian film 鈥淭he Snake Man鈥� (1972), escaped bloodshed by fleeing to Canada. Over the next four years, the genocidal regime executed most of Phnom Penh鈥檚 remaining directors and actors, wiping out Cambodia鈥檚 vibrant filmmaking scene.聽

Traumatized, Mr. Koun vowed never to make a film again. But he was overwhelmed when he learned that Davy Chou, the French Cambodian grandson of a famous director who disappeared in late 1969, had returned to Cambodia last summer to start an annual film festival. 鈥淭he younger filmmakers will give hope to Cambodian society again,鈥� Koun says.

He sent his daughter to represent him and his films at the exhibition called 鈥淕olden Reawakening.鈥澛�

As the post-Khmer Rouge generation of Cambodians grows up, they鈥檙e producing a flurry of films that mimic the vintage style of the 1960s 鈥� widely considered the country鈥檚 golden era. Much of the revival is owed to educated filmmaker refugees who are repatriating to Cambodia from France and the United States and opening the country鈥檚 first film institutes at local universities.聽

Mr. Chou, the grandson of Van Chann and a film professor at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, is at the forefront of the movement with his new film, 鈥淭win Diamonds,鈥� released in October. 鈥淧eople thought this would never happen, that Cambodians wouldn鈥檛 be able to come together and revive the arts,鈥� he says. 鈥淵oung people here are doing amazing things.鈥澛�

鈥淭win Diamonds鈥� was screened at the festival among scores of Cambodian films, most of which explored themes of family dynamics and infidelity.